" program the entire render pipeline" Yikes! I could not do that without going absolute mad! I'm just a hobbyist.

That's why I'm slowly going with python, trying to ease my way into shaders in very small and smooth steps. But I admire your skills, I bet that uni project taught you the inner workings of computer graphics in great depth.

Btw, keep sharing your graphics stuff, you might not find many people interested in CG here, but I'll gladly upvote your stuff (even if my upvotes aren't worth that much...I'm still young in steem years).